The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus''), the only species in genus ''Ondatra'', is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats. It plays an important role in nature and is a resource of food and fur for humans, as well as being an introduced species in much of its present range.

The muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as "rats" in a general sense because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle and an omnivorous diet. They are not, however, so-called "true rats", that is, members of the genus ''Rattus''.''

Etymology

The muskrat's name comes from the two scent glands which are found near its tail; they give off a strong "musky" odor which the muskrat uses to mark its territory.

Archaic names in English for the animal are musk beaver and musquash; the latter derived from the Abenaki native word ''mòskwas''.(New Oxford American Dictionary)

Description

An adult muskrat is about 40 to 60 cm (16 to 24 inches) long, almost half of that tail, and weighs from 0.7 to 1.8 kg (1.5 to 4 lb). That is about four times the weight of the brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), though an adult muskrat is only slightly longer. Muskrats are much smaller than beavers (''Castor canadensis''), with whom they often share their habitat. Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur which is medium to dark brown or black in color with the belly a bit lighter but as the age increases it turns a partly gray in color. The fur has two layers, which helps protect them from the cold water. They have long tails which are covered with scales rather than hair and are flattened vertically to aid them in swimming. When they walk on land the tail drags on the ground, which makes their tracks easy to recognize.

Muskrats spend much of their time in the water and are well suited for their semi-aquatic life, both in and out of water. Muskrats can swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes. Their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can close off their ears to keep the water out. Their hind feet are semi-webbed, although in swimming the tail is their main means of propulsion.

Distribution and habitat

Muskrats are found over most of Canada and the United States and a small part of northern Mexico. They were introduced to Europe in the beginning of the 20th century. Muskrats mostly inhabit wetlands, areas in or near salt and fresh-water marshlands, rivers, lakes, or ponds. They are not found in the state of Florida where the round-tailed muskrat, or Florida water rat, (''Neofiber alleni'') fills their niche.

Muskrats continue to thrive in most of their native habitat and in areas where they have been introduced. While much wetland habitat has been eliminated due to human activity, new muskrat habitat has been created by the construction of canals or irrigation channels and the muskrat remains common and widespread. They are able to live alongside streams which contain the sulfurous water that drains away from coal mines. Fish and frogs perish in such streams, yet muskrats may thrive and occupy the wetlands. Muskrats also benefit from human persecution of some of their predators.

Behavior

Muskrats normally live in family groups consisting of a male and female pair and their young. During the spring they often fight with other muskrats over territory and potential mates. Many are injured or killed in these fights. Muskrat families build nests to protect themselves and the young from cold and predators. In streams, ponds or lakes, muskrats burrow into the bank with an underwater entrance. These entrances are 6 to 8 inches wide. In marshes, lodges are constructed from vegetation and mud. These lodges are up to three feet in height. In snowy areas they keep the openings to their lodges closed by plugging them with vegetation which they replace every day. Some muskrat lodges are swept away in spring floods and have to be replaced each year. Muskrats also build feeding platforms in wetlands. Muskrats help maintain open areas in marshes, which helps to provide habitat for aquatic birds.

Muskrats are most active at night or near dawn and dusk. They feed on cattails and other aquatic vegetation. They do not store food for the winter, but sometimes eat the insides of their lodges. While Muskrats may appear to steal food that beavers have stored, more seemingly cooperative partnerships with beavers exist, as featured in the BBC David Attenborough wildlife documentary The Life of Mammals. Plant materials make up about 95 percent of their diets, but they also eat small animals such as freshwater mussels, frogs, crayfish, fish, and small turtles. Muskrats follow trails that they make in swamps and ponds. When the water freezes, muskrats continue to follow their trails under the ice. This is how trappers catch muskrats in the winter. Muskrats provide an important food resource for many other animals including mink, foxes, coyotes, wolves, lynx, bears, eagles, snakes, alligators, and large owls and hawks. Otters, snapping turtles, and large fish such as pike prey on baby muskrats. Caribou and elk sometimes feed on the vegetation which makes up muskrat lodges during the winter when other food is scarce for them. In their introduced range in the former Soviet Union, the muskrat's greatest predator is the golden jackal. Muskrats can be completely extirpated in shallow water bodies, and during the winter of 1948-49 in the Amu Darya, muskrats constituted 12.3% of jackal faeces contents, and 71% of muskrat houses were destroyed by jackals, 16% of which froze and became unsuitable for muskrat occupation. Jackals also harm the muskrat industry by eating muskrats caught in traps or taking skins left out to dry.

Muskrats, like most rodents, are prolific breeders. Females can have 2 to 3 litters a year of 6 to 8 young each. The babies are born small and hairless and weigh only about 22 grams (0.8 oz). In southern environments young muskrats mature in 6 months, while in colder northern environments it takes about a year. Muskrat populations appear to go through a regular pattern of rise and dramatic decline spread over a 6 to 10 year period. Some other rodents, including famously the muskrat's close relatives the lemmings, go through the same type of population changes (MC2007).

History and use by humans

Native Americans have long considered the muskrat to be a very important animal. Some predict winter snowfall levels by observing the size and timing of muskrat lodge construction. In several Native American creation myths it is the muskrat who dives to the bottom of the primordial sea to bring up the mud from which the earth is created, after other animals had failed in the task.

Muskrats have sometimes been a food resource for humans. Muskrat meat is tender and tastes gamey like rabbit or duck. In the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, there is a longstanding dispensation allowing Catholics to consume muskrat on Ash Wednesday, and the Fridays of Lent (when the eating of meat, except for fish, is prohibited). Because the muskrat lives in water, it is considered equivalent to fish.

Lenten dinners of muskrat are therefore traditional in parts of Michigan. The meat is occasionally consumed in Belgium and The Netherlands, and is traditional dish on the Delmarva Peninsula and in certain other areas and population segments of the United States. Muskrat fur is warm, and the trapping of muskrats for their fur became an important industry in the early twentieth century. At that time muskrats were introduced to Europe as a fur resource. Muskrat fur becomes prime at the beginning of December in most northern states. Muskrat fur was specially trimmed and dyed and called "hudson seal" fur, and sold widely in the United States in the early twentieth century. They spread throughout northern Europe and Asia.

Some European countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands consider the muskrat to be a pest that must be exterminated. Therefore the animal is trapped and hunted to keep the population down. The muskrat is considered a pest because its burrowing causes damage to the dikes and levees that these low-lying countries depend on for protection from flooding. Muskrats also sometimes eat corn and other farm and garden crops.

References

External links

Everything Muskrat

Hinterland Who's Who

How the Muskrat Became a Fish

How Muskrat Created the World – Native American Legends

The New Student's Reference Work/Muskrat

Category:Voles and lemmings Category:Mammals of North America Category:Arctic land animals Category:Fauna of the Arctic Category:Invasive animal species Category:Algonquian loanwords

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Coordinates	20°34′00″N103°40′35″N
Name	The Everly Brothers
Birth date	Don EverlyFebruary 01, 1937,Phil EverlyJanuary 19, 1939
Origin	Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, U.S.
Background	group_or_band
Genre	Country, rockabilly, rock and roll
Years active	1957–1973 1983–present
Label	Cadence, Warner Bros., RCA, Razor & Tie, Mercury }}

The Everly Brothers (Don and Phil, born Isaac Donald Everly, February 1, 1937, and Phillip Everly, January 19, 1939) are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing. The brothers are the most successful U.S. rock and roll duo on the Hot 100.

Style

Don and Phil Everly are both guitarists and use a simple vocal harmony mostly based on parallel thirds. With this, each line can often stand on its own as a melody line. This is in contrast to classic harmony lines which, while working well alongside the melody, sound strange by themselves.

For virtually all the Everly Brothers recordings, Don sings the lower harmony part, while Phil takes the higher part. One rare exception is on "Devoted To You". Although Don is still low and Phil is high, they switch singing the lead and harmony back and forth. As well, Don almost always sings any lines that are sung solo (for example, the verses of "Bye Bye Love".) Among the very few exceptions to this rule is the Everlys' 1965 single "It's All Over", where Phil sings the song's solo lines.

In the late 1950s, the Everly Brothers were the rock 'n' roll youth movement's addition to close harmony vocal groups of which many were family bands. Among the Everlys' famous counterparts in country music were The Delmore Brothers, The Louvin Brothers, Jim & Jesse (McReynolds) and The Osborne Brothers.

The duo's harmony singing had a strong influence on rock and roll groups of the 1960s. The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel developed their early singing styles by performing Everly covers.

History

Early career

Don was born in Powderly, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and Phil two years later in Chicago, Illinois. Their father, Ike Everly, was a musician. Ike, with Merle Travis, Mose Rager, and Kennedy Jones, was honored by the construction of ''The Four Legends Fountain'' in Drakesboro, Kentucky. Ike Everly had a show on KMA and KFNF in Shenandoah, Iowa, in the 1940s, with his wife Margaret and two young sons. Singing on the show gave the brothers their first exposure to the music industry. The family sang together live and traveled in the area singing as the Everly Family. The Everly Brothers grew up from ages 5 and 7 through early high school in Shenandoah. (Their boyhood home is being restored and will be donated to the Shenandoah Historical Society in the spring of 2009.) They are the cousins of actor James Best.

As the brothers transitioned out of the family act and into a duo, family friend Chet Atkins became an early champion of The Everly Brothers. Despite Atkins' affiliation with RCA Records, it was Atkins who engineered a chance for The Everly Brothers to record for Columbia Records in early 1956. However, their first and only single for the label, "Keep A' Lovin' Me", was a flop, and they were quickly dropped from Columbia.

Atkins still encouraged the Everly Brothers to continue on, and introduced them to Wesley Rose of Acuff-Rose music publishers. Impressed with the duo's songwriting talents, Rose told them that if they signed to Acuff-Rose as songwriters, he would also get them a recording deal. The duo signed to Acuff-Rose in late 1956, and by early 1957 Rose had introduced them to Archie Bleyer, who was setting up his new Cadence Records label. The Everlys signed to Cadence, and entered the recording studio for their first Cadence session in February 1957.

Their first Cadence single, "Bye Bye Love", had been rejected by 30 other acts (including Elvis Presley), but the Everlys saw potential in the song. Their recording of "Bye Bye Love" reached #2 on the pop charts behind Presley's "Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear", hitting #1 on the Country and #5 on the R&B; charts. The song, written by the husband and wife Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, became the Everly Brothers' first million-seller.

By 1962, the Everly Brothers had earned $35 million dollars from record sales. They became stalwarts of the Cadence label. Working with the Bryants, the duo had hits in the United States and the United Kingdom, the biggest being "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", "Bird Dog" and "Problems", all penned by the Bryants. The Everlys also found success as songwriters, especially with Don's "(Till) I Kissed You", which hit #4 on the US pop charts.

The brothers toured extensively with Buddy Holly during 1957 and 1958. According to Holly biographer Philip Norman, they were responsible for the change in style for Holly and The Crickets from Levi's and T-shirts to the Everlys' sharp Ivy League suits. Don claimed Holly to be a generous songwriter who wrote the song "Wishing" for them, while Phil later stated: "We were all from the South. We'd started in country music."

Phil Everly was one of Buddy Holly's pallbearers at his funeral in February 1959, although Don did not attend. He later said, "I couldn't go to the funeral. I couldn't go anywhere. I just took to my bed."

The 1960s and 1970s

After three years on the Cadence label, the Everlys signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1960, for a reported 10-year, multi-million dollar deal. They continued to have hits for Warner Brothers and their first, 1960's "Cathy's Clown" (written by Don and Phil) sold eight million copies, making it the duo's biggest-selling record. "Cathy's Clown" was number WB1, the first release in the United Kingdom by Warner Bros. Records.

Other successful Warner Brothers singles followed, such as "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)" (1960) (Pop #7), "Walk Right Back" (1961) (Pop #7), "Crying In The Rain" (1962) (Pop #6), and "That's Old Fashioned" (1962) (Pop #9, their last Top 10 hit). From 1960 to 1962, Cadence Records also continued to release Everly Brothers singles from the vaults: these included the top ten hit "When Will I Be Loved" (written by Phil) (Pop #8) and the top 40 hit "Like Strangers", as well as lower-charting singles.

However, shortly after signing with Warner Brothers, the Everlys fell out with their manager Wesley Rose, who also administered the Acuff-Rose music publishing company. Consequently for a period in the early 1960s, the Everlys were shut off from Acuff-Rose songwriters. These included Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who had written the majority of the Everlys' hits, as well as Don and Phil Everly themselves, who were still contracted to Acuff-Rose as songwriters and had written several of their own hits. Their dispute with Acuff-Rose lasted until 1964, at which point the brothers once again began writing some of their own material, as well as working with the Bryants.

With proven sources of hit material unavailable, from 1961 through early 1964 the Everlys recorded a mix of covers and songs by other writers. Their last U.S. Top Ten hit was 1962's "That's Old Fashioned" and succeeding years saw the Everly Brothers selling many fewer records in the United States. Their enlistment in the United States Marine Corps in November 1961 also took them out of the spotlight; one of their few performances during their Marines stint was an on-leave appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', performing "Jezebel" and "Crying In The Rain".

After the Marine Corps, the brothers resumed their career, but U.S. chart success was limited. Of the 27 singles the Everly Brothers released on Warner Brothers from 1963 through 1970, only three made the Hot 100, and none peaked higher than #31. Album sales were also down. The Everlys' first two albums for Warner (in 1960 and 1961) both peaked at #9 US—but after that, though they went on to release a dozen more LPs for Warner Brothers, only one made the top 200 (1965's ''Beat & Soul'', which topped out at #141.)

By then the brothers' personal lives had gone through serious upheavals. Both were addicted to speed for a while. Don's condition was made worse because he was taking the then unregulated drug Ritalin which led to deeper trouble. Don's addiction lasted three years and eventually he was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown and help for his addiction to Ritalin. It was during this troubled time the duo embarked on a UK tour. Don was unable to complete the tour and returned to the U.S. leaving Phil to carry on with their bass player, Joey Page, taking the place of Don.

Their stardom had begun to wane two years before the British Invasion in 1964 — although their appeal remained strong in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and elsewhere.

By 1965, the duo took a back seat to the new sound of the beat boom — including bands like The Beatles, who were highly influenced by, ironically, the Everly Brothers. A number of very successful 1950s acts had been influential on this new sound: for example Dion and the Belmonts, The Shirelles and Elvis Presley.

If their fortunes in the States were fading, the Everlys remained a successful act in the U.K. and Canada throughout most of the 1960s, reaching the top 40 in the United Kingdom with singles through 1968, and the top 10 in Canada as late as 1967. The 1966 album ''Two Yanks in England'' was a reflection of the Everlys' popularity in the U.K.; the album was recorded in England with backup by major UK chart act The Hollies, who also wrote many of the album's songs.

Towards the end of the 1960s, the Everly Brothers returned to an emphasis on their country-rock roots, and their 1968 album ''Roots'' is touted by some critics as "one of the finest early country-rock albums". However, by the end of the 1960s, the Everly Brothers were no longer hitmakers in either North America or the United Kingdom, and in 1970 their contract with Warner Bros. lapsed after ten years. In 1970, they were the summer replacement hosts for Johnny Cash's television show. In 1970, Don Everly released his first solo album, but it was not a success. The Everly Brothers resumed performing in 1971, and signed a contract with RCA Records, for whom they issued two albums in 1972 and 1973.

The solo years (1973-1983)

After the split, Phil and Don Everly pursued solo careers during a decade apart. Don found some success on the US country charts in the mid to late 1970s, in Nashville with his band Dead Cowboys, and playing with Albert Lee.

Phil sang back-up vocals on two songs for Warren Zevon's 1976 album Warren Zevon.

In 1979, Don Everly recorded a duet with Emmylou Harris, "Everytime You Leave", on her album "Blue Kentucky Girl".

Phil, meanwhile, recorded less frequently, and with no real chart success until the 1980s. However, Phil did write "Don't Say You Don't Love Me No More" for the hit Clint Eastwood comedy film, ''Every Which Way But Loose'' (1978) in which he performed it as a duet with co-star, Sondra Locke. He also wrote "One Too Many Women In Your Life" for the sequel, ''Any Which Way You Can'' (1980) where he could be seen playing in the band behind Sondra's performance.

Then, in 1983, Phil enjoyed significant UK success as a soloist with the album ''Phil Everly'', recorded mainly in London. Session musicians on the LP included Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, Rockpile drummer Terry Williams, and keyboard player Pete Wingfield. The track "She Means Nothing To Me", written by John David Williams and featuring Cliff Richard as co-lead vocalist, was a UK Top 10 hit, and "Louise" reached the Top 50 in 1983.

Reunion and subsequent activities (1983-present)

The brothers got back together in 1983. Their reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 23, 1983, was instigated by English guitarist Albert Lee (who was also the concert's musical director). This concert spawned a well-received live LP and video.

The brothers then returned to the studio as a duo for the first time in over a decade, resulting in the album ''EB '84'', produced by Dave Edmunds. Lead single "On the Wings of a Nightingale", written by Paul McCartney, was a minor success and returned them to the U.S. and UK charts.

They then earned a final charting country-music hit with "Born Yesterday" in 1986 from the album of the same name. During this time Don's son, Edan Everly, would often join the Everly brothers on stage to sing and play guitar. The brothers also sang vocals with Paul Simon on the Grammy award-winning title track to Simon's album ''Graceland''.

Even though the brothers have not produced studio albums since 1989's ''Some Hearts'', they tour and perform. They have collaborated with other performers, usually singing either backup vocals or duets. Phil has been especially active in this regard: in 1994, a new recording of "All I Have to Do Is Dream", featuring Cliff Richard and Phil sharing vocals, was a U.K. Top 20 hit.

In 1998, the brothers recorded the song "Cold" for the concept album of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's ''Whistle Down the Wind'', and the recording was later used in stage versions as a "song on the radio."

In 1999, Don Everly and his son Edan Everly did a benefit show billed as The Everly Brothers for Kentucky flood relief.

In 2004 a compilation entitled "Country Classics" was released. This consists of tracks recorded in 1972 and 1985.

In 2006, Phil Everly sang a duet, "Sweet Little Corrina", with country singer Vince Gill on his album ''These Days''. He previously supplied harmony vocals on J.D. Souther's "White Rhythm and Blues" on his 1979 album ''You're Only Lonely''.

Legacy

The Everly Brothers had 26 Billboard Top 40 singles and 35 Billboard Top 100 singles. They hold the record for the most Top 100 singles by any duo, and trail only Hall & Oates for the most Top 40 singles by a duo.

In 1986, the Everlys were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, they were introduced by Neil Young, who observed that every musical group he belonged to had tried and failed to copy the Everly Brothers' harmonies. That year on July 5, the Everlys returned to their boyhood home of Shenandoah to a crowd of 8,500 for a concert, parade, street dedication, class reunion and other activities. Concert fees were donated to The Everly Family Scholarship Fund which gives scholarships to middle and high school students in Shenandoah every year.

In 1997, they were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004. Their pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. The Everly Brothers have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Everly Brothers #33 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Times. They are also #43 on the list of UK Best selling singles artists of all time.

They were also songwriters, penning "Till I Kissed You" (Don), "Cathy's Clown" (Don and Phil), and "When Will I Be Loved" (Phil). "Cathy's Clown" and "When Will I Be Loved" later became hits for Reba McEntire and Linda Ronstadt, respectively; (for the latter, the Everly Brothers sang the chorus). Also, the Norwegian band a-ha covered "Crying In The Rain" in 1990 for their fourth album, ''East of The Sun, West of The Moon''.

The Bee Gees acknowledged that they would sing in the style of the Everlys and then add a third harmony. This is evident on the Bee Gees' 1967 hit, "New York Mining Disaster 1941".

Paul McCartney paid tribute by mentioning "Phil and Don" in his 1976 million-seller, "Let 'Em In".

They still perform occasionally, despite having declared their retirement. They joined Simon & Garfunkel as the featured act in Simon and Garfunkel's ''Old Friends'' reunion tour of 2003 and 2004. As a tribute to the Everly Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel opened their own show and had the Everlys come out in the middle. The live album of the tour ''Old Friends: Live on Stage'' contains Simon and Garfunkel discussing the Everlys' influence on their career, and features all four performers joining in on "Bye Bye Love" (The subsequent DVD features two extra solo performances by the Everlys). For Paul Simon, it was not the first time he had performed with his heroes. In 1986, The Everlys sang background vocals on the title track of Simon's album ''Graceland''.

On Labor Day Weekend 1988, Central City Kentucky began The Everly Brothers Homecoming event to raise money for a scholarship fund for Muhlenberg County students. The Homecoming became a popular annual event for fourteen years, ending in 2002. Don and Phil toured the United Kingdom in 2005 and Phil appeared in 2007 on recordings with Vince Gill and Bill Medley. Also in 2007, country singer Alison Krauss and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant released "Raising Sand" which included a cover of the 1964 hit single, "Gone, Gone, Gone" produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Don Everly's daughter, Erin Everly, was briefly married to the front man of Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose.

Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis named his son, Everly, after the members of the band.

Throughout the 1950s, The Everly Brothers used Gibson J-200 guitars, some with dual white pickguards. In 1962, Gibson Guitar Corporation collaborated with the brothers to produce the Gibson Everly Brothers Flattop, a signature acoustic guitar.

Today, Phil Everly is involved with his own musical instrument accessories company. Everly Music Company produces products designed by Phil and Jason Everly, Phil's eldest son, for guitar and bass.

The late singer and songwriter Elliott Smith made reference to the song "Cathy's Clown" in his "Waltz #2":

The Beatles based the vocal arrangement of "Please Please Me" upon "Cathy's Clown".

Keith Richards called Don Everly "one of the finest rhythm players".

Jack White, and The Raconteurs, featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe,in their acoustic version of "Old Enough", reference "Wake Up Little Susie" in a portion of the bridge.

Discography

See also

Gibson Everly Brothers Flattop

References

External links

Category:Musical groups established in 1957 Category:American country music groups Category:American rock music groups Category:Country music duos Category:Family musical groups Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Musicians from Iowa Category:Musicians from Kentucky Category:People from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:American Christian musical groups Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees‎ Category:Sibling musical duos Category:United States Marines Category:Apex Records artists Category:People from Shenandoah, Iowa Category:Living people Category:Cadence Records artists

bg:Евърли Брадърс cs:The Everly Brothers da:The Everly Brothers de:The Everly Brothers et:The Everly Brothers es:The Everly Brothers fr:The Everly Brothers gl:The Everly Brothers hr:The Everly Brothers it:The Everly Brothers nl:The Everly Brothers ja:エヴァリー・ブラザース no:The Everly Brothers pl:The Everly Brothers pt:The Everly Brothers ru:The Everly Brothers scn:Everly Brothers simple:Everly Brothers sh:The Everly Brothers fi:The Everly Brothers sv:The Everly Brothers th:ดิเอเวอร์ลีบราเธอร์ส uk:The Everly Brothers

Coordinates	20°34′00″N103°40′35″N
name	Louis Armstrong
alt	A picture of Louis Armstrong. Short-haired black man in his fifties blowing into a trumpet. He is wearing a light-colored sport coat, a white shirt and a bow tie. He is faced left with his eyes looking upwards. His right hand is fingering the trumpet, with the index finger down and three fingers pointing upwards. The man's left hand is mostly covered with a handkerchief and it has a shining ring on the little finger. He is wearing a wristwatch on the left wrist.
landscape	Yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Louis Armstrong
born	August 4, 1901New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
died	July 06, 1971Corona, Queens, New York City, U.S.
instruments	Trumpet, cornet, vocals
genre	Dixieland, jazz, swing, traditional pop
occupation	Musician
spouse	Daisy Parker
years active	c. 1914–71
associated acts	Joe "King" Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Kid Ory, Bobby Hackett
website	}}

Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performance.

With his instantly recognizable deep and distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics.

Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.

Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over," whose skin-color was secondary to his amazing talent in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a person of color. While he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, he was privately a strong supporter of the Civil Rights movement in America.

Biography

Early life

Armstrong often stated that he was born on July 4, 1900, a date that has been noted in many biographies. Although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date of August 4, 1901 was discovered through the examination of baptismal records.

Armstrong was born into a very poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana, the grandson of slaves. He spent his youth in poverty, in a rough neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, known as “Back of Town”, as his father, William Armstrong (1881–1922), abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and took up with another woman. His mother, Mary "Mayann" Albert (1886–1942), then left Louis and his younger sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins (1903–1987) in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times, his Uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back to live with his mother and her relatives, and saw his father only in parades.

He attended the Fisk School for Boys. It was there that he likely had his first exposure to Creole music. He brought in some money as a paperboy and also by finding discarded food and selling it to restaurants, but it was not enough to keep his mother from prostitution. He hung out in dance halls close to home, where he observed everything from licentious dancing to the quadrille. For extra money he also hauled coal to Storyville, the famed red-light district, and listened to the bands playing in the brothels and dance halls, especially Pete Lala's where Joe "King" Oliver performed and other famous musicians would drop in to jam.

After dropping out of the Fisk School at age eleven, Armstrong joined a quartet of boys that sang in the streets for money. But he also started to get into trouble. Cornet player Bunk Johnson said he taught Armstrong (then 11) to play by ear at Dago Tony's Tonk in New Orleans, although in his later years Armstrong gave the credit to Oliver. Armstrong hardly looked back at his youth as the worst of times but instead drew inspiration from it, “Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for.”

He also worked for a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys, who had a junk hauling business and gave him odd jobs. They took him in and treated him as almost a family member, knowing he lived without a father, and would feed and nurture him. He later wrote a memoir of his relationship with the Karnofskys titled, ''Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907.'' In it he describes his discovery that this family was also subject to discrimination by "other white folks' nationalities who felt that they were better than the Jewish race. I was only seven years old but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the White Folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for." Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life and wrote about what he learned from them: "how to live—real life and determination." The influence of Karnofsky is remembered in New Orleans by the Karnofsky Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to accepting donated musical instruments to "put them into the hands of an eager child who could not otherwise take part in a wonderful learning experience."

Armstrong developed his cornet playing seriously in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent multiple times for general delinquency, most notably for a long term after firing his stepfather's pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration, as police records confirm. Professor Peter Davis (who frequently appeared at the Home at the request of its administrator, Captain Joseph Jones) instilled discipline in and provided musical training to the otherwise self-taught Armstrong. Eventually, Davis made Armstrong the band leader. The Home band played around New Orleans and the thirteen year old Louis began to draw attention by his cornet playing, starting him on a musical career. At fourteen he was released from the Home, living again with his father and new stepmother and then back with his mother and also back to the streets and their temptations. Armstrong got his first dance hall job at Henry Ponce’s where Black Benny became his protector and guide. He hauled coal by day and played his cornet at night.

He played in the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and above all, Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and father figure to the young musician. Later, he played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and began traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable, which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He described his time with Marable as, "going to the University," since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements.

In 1919, Joe Oliver decided to go north and resigned his position in Kid Ory's band; Armstrong replaced him. He also became second trumpet for the Tuxedo Brass Band, a society band.

Career

On March 19, 1918, Louis married Daisy Parker from Gretna, Louisiana. They adopted a 3-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, whose mother, Louis's cousin Flora, died soon after giving birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled (the result of a head injury at an early age) and Louis would spend the rest of his life taking care of him. Louis's marriage to Parker failed quickly and they separated. She died shortly after the divorce.

Through all his riverboat experience Armstrong’s musicianship began to mature and expand. At twenty, he could read music and he started to be featured in extended trumpet solos, one of the first jazzmen to do this, injecting his own personality and style into his solo turns. He had learned how to create a unique sound and also started using singing and patter in his performances. In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to join his Creole Jazz Band and where he could make a sufficient income so that he no longer needed to supplement his music with day labor jobs. It was a boom time in Chicago and though race relations were poor, the “Windy City” was teeming with jobs for black people, who were making good wages in factories and had plenty to spend on entertainment.

Oliver's band was the best and most influential hot jazz band in Chicago in the early 1920s, at a time when Chicago was the center of the jazz universe. Armstrong lived like a king in Chicago, in his own apartment with his own private bath (his first). Excited as he was to be in Chicago, he began his career-long pastime of writing nostalgic letters to friends in New Orleans. As Armstrong’s reputation grew, he was challenged to “cutting contests” by hornmen trying to displace the new phenom, who could blow two hundred high C’s in a row. Armstrong made his first recordings on the Gennett and Okeh labels (jazz records were starting to boom across the country), including taking some solos and breaks, while playing second cornet in Oliver's band in 1923. At this time, he met Hoagy Carmichael (with whom he would collaborate later) who was introduced by friend Bix Beiderbecke, who now had his own Chicago band.

Armstrong enjoyed working with Oliver, but Louis's second wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing and develop his newer style away from the influence of Oliver. Armstrong took the advice of his wife and left Oliver's band. For a year Armstrong played in Fletcher Henderson's band in New York on many recordings. After playing in New York, Armstrong returned to Chicago, playing in large orchestras; there he created his most important early recordings. Lil had her husband play classical music in church concerts to broaden his skill and improve his solo play and she prodded him into wearing more stylish attire to make him look sharp and to better offset his growing girth. Lil’s influence eventually undermined Armstrong’s relationship with his mentor, especially concerning his salary and additional moneys that Oliver held back from Armstrong and other band members. Armstrong and Oliver parted amicably in 1924. Shortly afterward, Armstrong received an invitation to go to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African-American band of the day. Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. His influence upon Henderson's tenor sax soloist, Coleman Hawkins, can be judged by listening to the records made by the band during this period. Armstrong quickly adapted to the more tightly controlled style of Henderson, playing trumpet and even experimenting with the trombone and the other members quickly took up Armstrong’s emotional, expressive pulse. Soon his act included singing and telling tales of New Orleans characters, especially preachers. The Henderson Orchestra was playing in the best venues for white-only patrons, including the famed Roseland Ballroom, featuring the classy arrangements of Don Redman. Duke Ellington’s orchestra would go to Roseland to catch Armstrong’s performances and young hornmen around town tried in vain to outplay him, splitting their lips in their attempts.

During this time, Armstrong also made many recordings on the side, arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams; these included small jazz band sides with the Williams Blue Five (some of the best pairing Armstrong with one of Armstrong's few rivals in fiery technique and ideas, Sidney Bechet) and a series of accompaniments with blues singers, including Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter.

Armstrong returned to Chicago in 1925 due mostly to the urging of his wife, who wanted to pump up Armstrong’s career and income. He was content in New York but later would concede that she was right and that the Henderson Orchestra was limiting his artistic growth. In publicity, much to his chagrin, she billed him as “the World’s Greatest Trumpet Player”. At first he was actually a member of the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band and working for his wife. He began recording under his own name for Okeh with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, producing hits such as "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles", (a reference to marijuana, for which Armstrong had a lifelong fondness), and "West End Blues", the music of which set the standard and the agenda for jazz for many years to come.

The group included Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), wife Lil on piano, and usually no drummer. Armstrong’s bandleading style was easygoing, as St. Cyr noted, "One felt so relaxed working with him and he was very broad-minded ... always did his best to feature each individual." His recordings soon after with pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines (most famously their 1928 ''Weatherbird'' duet) and Armstrong's trumpet introduction to "West End Blues" remain some of the most famous and influential improvisations in jazz history. Armstrong was now free to develop his personal style as he wished, which included a heavy dose of effervescent jive, such as "whip that thing, Miss Lil" and "Mr. Johnny Dodds, Aw, do that clarinet, boy!"

Armstrong also played with Erskine Tate’s Little Symphony, actually a quintet, which played mostly at the Vendome Theatre. They furnished music for silent movies and live shows, including jazz versions of classical music, such as “Madame Butterfly,” which gave Armstrong experience with longer forms of music and with hosting before a large audience. He began to scat sing (improvised vocal jazz using non-sensical words) and was among the first to record it, on "Heebie Jeebies" in 1926. So popular was the recording the group became the most famous jazz band in the USA even though they as yet had not performed live to any great degree. Young musicians across the country, black and white, were turned on by Armstrong’s new type of jazz.

After separating from Lil, Armstrong started to play at the Sunset Café for Al Capone's associate Joe Glaser in the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra, with Earl Hines on piano, which was soon renamed ''Louis Armstrong and his Stompers'', though Hines was the music director and Glaser managed the orchestra. Hines and Armstrong became fast friends as well as successful collaborators.

Armstrong returned to New York, in 1929, where he played in the pit orchestra of the successful musical ''Hot Chocolate'', an all-black revue written by Andy Razaf and pianist/composer Fats Waller. He also made a cameo appearance as a vocalist, regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'", his version of the song becoming his biggest selling record to date.

Armstrong started to work at Connie's Inn in Harlem, chief rival to the Cotton Club, a venue for elaborately staged floor shows, and a front for gangster Dutch Schultz. Armstrong also had considerable success with vocal recordings, including versions of famous songs composed by his old friend Hoagy Carmichael. His 1930s recordings took full advantage of the new RCA ribbon microphone, introduced in 1931, which imparted a characteristic warmth to vocals and immediately became an intrinsic part of the 'crooning' sound of artists like Bing Crosby. Armstrong's famous interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" became one of the most successful versions of this song ever recorded, showcasing Armstrong's unique vocal sound and style and his innovative approach to singing songs that had already become standards.

Armstrong's radical re-working of Sidney Arodin and Carmichael's "Lazy River" (recorded in 1931) encapsulated many features of his groundbreaking approach to melody and phrasing. The song begins with a brief trumpet solo, then the main melody is stated by sobbing horns, memorably punctuated by Armstrong's growling interjections at the end of each bar: "Yeah! ..."Uh-huh" ..."Sure" ... "Way down, way down." In the first verse, he ignores the notated melody entirely and sings as if playing a trumpet solo, pitching most of the first line on a single note and using strongly syncopated phrasing. In the second stanza he breaks into an almost fully improvised melody, which then evolves into a classic passage of Armstrong "scat singing".

As with his trumpet playing, Armstrong's vocal innovations served as a foundation stone for the art of jazz vocal interpretation. The uniquely gritty coloration of his voice became a musical archetype that was much imitated and endlessly impersonated. His scat singing style was enriched by his matchless experience as a trumpet soloist. His resonant, velvety lower-register tone and bubbling cadences on sides such as "Lazy River" exerted a huge influence on younger white singers such as Bing Crosby.

The Depression of the early Thirties was especially hard on the jazz scene. The Cotton Club closed in 1936 after a long downward spiral and many musicians stopped playing altogether as club dates evaporated. Bix Beiderbecke died and Fletcher Henderson’s band broke up. King Oliver made a few records but otherwise struggled. Sidney Bechet became a tailor and Kid Ory returned to New Orleans and raised chickens. Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930 to seek new opportunities. He played at the New Cotton Club in LA with Lionel Hampton on drums. The band drew the Hollywood crowd, which could still afford a lavish night life, while radio broadcasts from the club connected with younger audiences at home. Bing Crosby and many other celebrities were regulars at the club. In 1931, Armstrong appeared in his first movie, ''Ex-Flame''. Armstrong was convicted of marijuana possession but received a suspended sentence. He returned to Chicago in late 1931 and played in bands more in the Guy Lombardo vein and he recorded more standards. When the mob insisted that he get out of town, Armstrong visited New Orleans, got a hero’s welcome and saw old friends. He sponsored a local baseball team known as “Armstrong’s Secret Nine” and got a cigar named after himself. But soon he was on the road again and after a tour across the country shadowed by the mob, Armstrong decided to go to Europe to escape.

After returning to the States, he undertook several exhausting tours. His agent Johnny Collins’ erratic behavior and his own spending ways left Armstrong short of cash. Breach of contract violations plagued him. Finally, he hired Joe Glaser as his new manager, a tough mob-connected wheeler-dealer, who began to straighten out his legal mess, his mob troubles, and his debts. Armstrong also began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, which were aggravated by his unorthodox playing style. As a result he branched out, developing his vocal style and making his first theatrical appearances. He appeared in movies again, including Crosby's 1936 hit ''Pennies from Heaven''. In 1937, Armstrong substituted for Rudy Vallee on the CBS radio network and became the first African American to host a sponsored, national broadcast. He finally divorced Lil in 1938 and married longtime girlfriend Alpha.

After spending many years on the road, Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943 in contentment with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, as well as anti-black prejudice, he continued to develop his playing. He recorded Hoagy Carmichael's Rockin' Chair for Okeh Records.

During the subsequent thirty years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year. Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940s due to changes in public tastes: ballrooms closed, and there was competition from television and from other types of music becoming more popular than big band music. It became impossible under such circumstances to support and finance a 16-piece touring band.

The All Stars

Following a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring Armstrong with trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden, Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser dissolved the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947 and established a six-piece small group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, Earl Hines and other top swing and dixieland musicians, most of them ex-big band leaders. The new group was announced at the opening of Billy Berg's Supper Club.

This group was called Louis Armstrong and his All Stars and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Tyree Glenn, Barrett Deems and the Filipino-American percussionist, Danny Barcelona. During this period, Armstrong made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. He was the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of ''Time Magazine'' on February 21, 1949.

In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, "Hello, Dolly!" The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong (age 63) the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat. In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.

Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death in 1971. In his later years he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success, earning the nickname "Ambassador Satch." While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.

Death

Armstrong died of a heart attack in his sleep on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th birthday, and 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. He was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his death. He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City.

His honorary pallbearers included Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson and David Frost. Peggy Lee sang The Lord's Prayer at the services while Al Hibbler sang "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and Fred Robbins, a long-time friend, gave the eulogy.

Personality

Armstrong was a colorful character. His own biography vexes biographers and historians, because he had a habit of telling tales, particularly of his early childhood, when he was less scrutinized, and his embellishments of his history often lack consistency.

He was not only an entertainer. Armstrong was a leading personality of the day who was so beloved by a white-controlled America that gave even the greatest African American performers little access beyond their public celebrity, that he was able to privately live a life of access and privilege accorded to few other African Americans.

He tried to remain politically neutral, which gave him a large part of that access, but often alienated him from members of the African-American community who looked to him to use his prominence with white America to become more of an outspoken figure during the Civil Rights Era of U.S. history.

Nicknames

The nicknames Satchmo and Satch are short for Satchelmouth. Like many things in Armstrong's life, which was filled with colorful stories both real and imagined, many of his own telling, the nickname has many possible origins.

The most common tale that biographers tell is the story of Armstrong as a young boy dancing for pennies in the streets of New Orleans, who would scoop up the coins off of the streets and stick them into his mouth to avoid having the bigger children steal them from him. Someone dubbed him "satchel mouth" for his mouth acting as a satchel.

Early on he was also known as Dipper, short for Dippermouth, a reference to the piece ''Dippermouth Blues''. and something of a riff on his unusual embouchure.

Armstrong and race

Armstrong was largely accepted into white society, both on stage and off, a privilege reserved for very few African-American public figures, and usually those of either exceptional talent and fair skin-tone. As his fame grew, so did his access to the finer things in life usually denied to a black man, even a famous one. His renown was such that he dined in the best restaurants and stayed in hotels usually exclusively for whites.

It was a power and privilege that he enjoyed, although he was very careful not to flaunt it with fellow performers of color, and privately, he shared what access that he could with friends and fellow musicians.

That still did not prevent members of the African-American community, particularly in the late 1950s to the early 1970s, from calling him an ''Uncle Tom'', a black-on-black racial epithet for someone who kowtowed to white society at the expense of their own racial identity.

He was criticized for accepting the title of "King of The Zulus" for Mardi Gras in 1949. In the New Orleans African-American community it is an honored role as the head of leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with their traditional costume of grass-skirts and blackface makeup satirizing southern white attitudes.

Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in the civil rights movement.

Billie Holiday countered, however, "Of course Pops toms, but he toms from the heart."

The few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out. Armstrong's criticism of President Eisenhower, calling him "two-faced" and "gutless" because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news.

As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell" and that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people. Six days after Armstrong's comments, Eisenhower ordered Federal troops to Little Rock to escort students into the school.

The FBI kept a file on Armstrong, for his outspokenness about integration.

Religion

When asked about his religion, Armstrong would answer that he was raised a Baptist, always wore a Star of David, and was friends with the Pope. Armstrong wore the Star of David in honor of the Karnofsky family, who took him in as a child and lent him the money to buy his first cornet. Louis Armstrong was, in fact, baptized as a Catholic at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans, and he met popes Pius XII and Paul VI, though there is no evidence that he considered himself Catholic. Armstrong seems to have been tolerant towards various religions, but also found humor in them.

Personal habits

Purging

Armstrong was also greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title ''Lose Weight the Satchmo Way''. Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was Pluto Water, but he then became an enthusiastic convert when he discovered the herbal remedy Swiss Kriss. He would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen and pass out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the British Royal Family. (Armstrong also appeared in humorous, albeit risqué, cards that he had printed to send out to friends; the cards bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet—as viewed through a keyhole—with the slogan "''Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!'''") The cards have sometimes been incorrectly described as ads for Swiss Kriss.

In a live recording of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Velma Middleton, he changes the lyric from "Put another record on while I pour" to "Take some Swiss Kriss while I pour." The line, slightly garbled in the live recording, could just as likely be "Take some Swiss Miss while I pour"—Swiss Miss is a hot chocolate mix that would have been fairly new on the market in 1951. (The line comes at 1:04 in the song.)

Love of food

The concern with his health and weight was balanced by his love of food, reflected in such songs as "Cheesecake", "Cornet Chop Suey," though "Struttin’ with Some Barbecue" was written about a fine-looking companion, not about food. He kept a strong connection throughout his life to the cooking of New Orleans, always signing his letters, "Red beans and ricely yours..."

Writings

Armstrong’s gregariousness extended to writing. On the road, he wrote constantly, sharing favorite themes of his life with correspondents around the world. He avidly typed or wrote on whatever stationery was at hand, recording instant takes on music, sex, food, childhood memories, his heavy “medicinal” marijuana use—and even his bowel movements, which he gleefully described. He had a fondness for lewd jokes and dirty limericks as well.

Social organizations

Louis Armstrong was not, as is often claimed, a Freemason. Although he is usually listed as being a member of Montgomery Lodge No. 18 (Prince Hall) in New York, no such lodge has ever existed. Armstrong states in his autobiography, however, that he was a member of the Knights of Pythias, which is not a Masonic group.

Music

Horn playing and early jazz

In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. The greatest trumpet playing of his early years can be heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records, as well as the Red Onion Jazz Babies. The improvisations he made on these records of New Orleans jazz standards and popular songs of the day are unsurpassed by later jazz performers. The older generation of New Orleans jazz musicians often referred to their improvisations as "variating the melody." Armstrong's improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time, while often subtle and melodic.

He often essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting. Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms. The genius of these creative passages is matched by Armstrong's playing technique, honed by constant practice, which extended the range, tone and capabilities of the trumpet. In these records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what was essentially a collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.

Armstrong's work in the 1920s shows him playing at the outer limits of his abilities. The Hot Five records, especially, often have minor flubs and missed notes, which do little to detract from listening enjoyment since the energy of the spontaneous performance comes through. By the mid 1930s, Armstrong achieved a smooth assurance, knowing exactly what he could do and carrying out his ideas to perfection.

He was one of the first artists to use recordings of his performances to improve himself. Armstrong was an avid audiophile. He had a large collection of recordings, including reel-to-reel tapes, which he took on the road with him in a trunk during his later career. He enjoyed listening to his own recordings, and comparing his performances musically. In the den of his home, he had the latest audio equipment and would sometimes rehearse and record along with his older recordings or the radio.

Vocal popularity

As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became very important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it. He had a hit with his playing and scat singing on "Heebie Jeebies" when, according to some legends, the sheet music fell on the floor and he simply started singing nonsense syllables. Armstrong stated in his memoirs that this actually occurred. He also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas."

Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.

Colleagues and followers

During his long career he played and sang with some of the most important instrumentalists and vocalists of the time; among them were Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, the singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith and perhaps most famously Ella Fitzgerald.

His influence upon Bing Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music: Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931). The ''New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz'' describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in precise detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name:

Armstrong recorded three albums with Ella Fitzgerald: ''Ella and Louis'', ''Ella and Louis Again'', and ''Porgy and Bess'' for Verve Records, with the sessions featuring the backing musicianship of the Oscar Peterson Trio and drummer Buddy Rich. His recordings ''Satch Plays Fats'', all Fats Waller tunes, and ''Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy'' in the 1950s were perhaps among the last of his great creative recordings, but even oddities like ''Disney Songs the Satchmo Way'' are seen to have their musical moments. And, his participation in Dave Brubeck's high-concept jazz musical ''The Real Ambassadors'' was critically acclaimed. For the most part, however, his later output was criticized as being overly simplistic or repetitive.

Hits and later career

Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "You Rascal You,"and "Stompin' at the Savoy." "We Have All the Time in the World" was featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'', and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.

In 1964, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly!", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a number one song. His 1964 song, "Bout Time" was later featured in the film "Bewitched" (2005).

Armstrong performed in Italy at the 1968 Sanremo Music Festival where he sang "Mi Va di Cantare" alongside his friend, the Eritrean-born Italian singer Lara Saint Paul. In February 1968, he also appeared with Lara Saint Paul on the Italian RAI television channel where he performed "Grassa e Bella," a track he sang in Italian for the Italian market and C.D.I. label.

In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the United Kingdom with the highly sentimental pop song "What a Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', its subsequent rerelease topping many charts around the world. Armstrong even appeared on the October 28, 1970 ''Johnny Cash Show'', where he sang Nat "King" Cole's hit "Rambling Rose" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel #9".

Stylistic range

Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from blues to the arrangements of Guy Lombardo, to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted Armstrong to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an ''early influence''. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the hard rocking version of "St. Louis Blues" from the ''WC Handy'' album, show that the influence went in both directions.

Literature, radio, films and TV

Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, usually playing a band leader or musician. His most familiar role was as the bandleader ''cum'' narrator in the 1956 musical, ''High Society'', in which he sang the title song and performed a duet with Bing Crosby on "Now You Has Jazz". In 1947, he played himself in the movie ''New Orleans'' opposite Billie Holiday, which chronicled the demise of the Storyville district and the ensuing exodus of musicians from New Orleans to Chicago. In the 1959 film, The Five Pennies (the story of the cornetist Red Nichols), he played himself as well as singing and playing several classic numbers, including a remarkable duet with Danny Kaye of ''When the Saints Go Marching In'' during which Kaye does a brilliant impersonation of Armstrong. He also had a part in the film alongside James Stewart in "The Glenn Miller Story" in which Glenn (played by Stewart) went along to Connies Inn and had a jam session with him and a few other noted musicians of the time, Louis sang "Basin St. Blues"..

He was the first African American to host a nationally broadcast radio show in the 1930s. In 1969, Armstrong had a cameo role in the film version of ''Hello, Dolly!'' as the bandleader, Louis, to which he sang the title song with actress Barbra Streisand. His solo recording of "Hello, Dolly!" is one of his most recognizable performances. He was heard on such radio programs as ''The Story of Swing'' (1937) and ''This Is Jazz'' (1947), and he also made countless television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''.

Armstrong has a record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7601 Hollywood Boulevard.

Many of Armstrong's recordings remain popular. Almost four decades since his passing, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available than at any time during his lifetime. His songs are broadcast and listened to every day throughout the world, and are honored in various movies, TV series, commercials, and even anime and computer games. "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was included in the computer game ''Fallout 2'', accompanying the intro cinematic. It was also used in the 1993 film ''Sleepless in Seattle'' and the 2005 film ''Lord of War''. His 1923 recordings, with Joe Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, continue to be listened to as documents of ensemble style New Orleans jazz, but more particularly as ripper jazz records in their own right. All too often, however, Armstrong recorded with stiff, standard orchestras leaving only his sublime trumpet playing as of interest. "Melancholy Blues," performed by Armstrong and his Hot Seven was included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into outer space to represent one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Most familiar to modern listeners is his ubiquitous rendition of "What a Wonderful World". In 2008, Armstrong's recording of Edith Piaf's famous "La Vie En Rose" was used in a scene of the popular Disney/Pixar film ''WALL-E''. The song was also used in parts, especially the opening trumpets, in the French Film Jeux d'enfants (English: Love Me If You Dare)

Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called Cronopios that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar once called Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (Most Enormous Cronopio).

Armstrong appears as a minor character in Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory Series. When he and his band escape from a Nazi-like Confederacy, they enhance the insipid mainstream music of the North. A young Armstrong also appears as a minor character in Patrick Neate's 2001 novel ''Twelve Bar Blues'', part of which is set in New Orleans, and which was a winner at that year's Whitbread Book Awards.

There is a pivotal scene in 1980's ''Stardust Memories'' in which Woody Allen is overwhelmed by a recording of Armstrong's Stardust and experiences a nostalgic epiphany. The combination of the music and the perfect moment is the catalyst for much of the film's action, prompting the protagonist to fall in love with an ill-advised woman.

Armstrong is referred to in ''The Trumpet of the Swan'' along with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Three siblings in the film are named Louis, Billie, and Ella. The main character, Louis, plays a trumpet, an obvious nod to Armstrong. In the original E. B. White book, he is referred to by name, by a child who hears Louis playing and comments, "He sounds just like Louis Armstrong, the famous trumpet player."

In the 2009 Disney Film ''The Princess and the Frog'', one of the supporting characters is a trumpet-playing alligator named Louis. During the song "When I'm Human", Louis sings a line and it says "Y'all heard of Louis Armstrong".

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;" | Grammy Award |- ! Year ! Category ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Result |- align=center | 1964 | Male Vocal Performance | "Hello, Dolly!" | Pop | Kapp | Winner |}

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;" | Grammy Hall of Fame |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted ! Notes |- align=center | 1929 | "St. Louis Blues" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 2008 |with Bessie Smith |- align=center | 1928 | "Weather Bird" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 2008 | with Earl Hines |- align=center | 1930 | "Blue Yodel #9(Standing on the Corner)" | Country (Single) | Victor | 2007 | Jimmie Rodgers (Featuring Louis Armstrong) |- align=center | 1932 | "All of Me" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 2005 | |- align=center | 1958 | ''Porgy and Bess'' | Jazz (Album) | Verve | 2001 | with Ella Fitzgerald |- align=center | 1964 | "Hello Dolly!" | Pop (Single) | Kapp | 2001 | |- align=center | 1926 | "Heebie Jeebies" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 1999 | |- align=center | 1968 | "What a Wonderful World" | Jazz (Single) | ABC | 1999 | |- align=center | 1955 | "Mack the Knife" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 1997 | |- align=center | 1925 | "St. Louis Blues" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 1993 | Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, cornet |- align=center | 1928 | "West End Blues" | Jazz (Single) | OKeh | 1974 | |}

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Armstrong's ''West End Blues'' on the list of 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.

{| class=wikitable |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Label ! Group |- align=center | 1928 | West End Blues | Okeh | Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five |}

Inductions and honors

In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong 32 cents commemorative postage stamp.

{| class=wikitable |- ! Year Inducted ! Title ! Results ! Notes |- align=center | 2007 | Louisiana Music Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 2007 | Gennett Records Walk of Fame, Richmond, Indiana | | |- align=center | 2007 | Long Island Music Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 2004 | Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fameat Jazz at Lincoln Center | | |- align=center | 1990 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | | Early influence |- align=center | 1978 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 1952 | Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame | | |- align=center | 1960 | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star | at 7601 Hollywood Blvd. |}

Legacy

The house where Louis Armstrong lived for close to 28 years was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and is now a museum. The Louis Armstrong House Museum, at 34-56 107th Street (between 34th and 37th Avenues) in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the City University of New York's Queens College, following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will.

The museum opened to the public on October 15, 2003. A visitors center is currently being planned, and estimated to open in 2011.

The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable. Yet, his irrepressible personality both as a performer, and as a public figure later in his career, was so strong that to some it sometimes overshadowed his contributions as a musician and singer.

As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz and is used widely today. He was a masterful accompanist and ensemble player in addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist. With his innovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him.

Though Armstrong is widely recognized as a pioneer of scat singing, Ethel Waters precedes his scatting on record in the 1930s according to Gary Giddins and others. Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are just two singers who were greatly indebted to him. Holiday said that she always wanted Bessie Smith's 'big' sound and Armstrong's feeling in her singing.

On August 4, 2001, the centennial of Armstrong's birth, New Orleans's airport was renamed Louis Armstrong International Airport in his honor.

In 2002, the Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925–1928) are preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

The US Open tennis tournament's former main stadium was named Louis Armstrong Stadium in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.

Today, there are many bands worldwide dedicated to preserving and honoring the music and style of Satchmo, including the Louis Armstrong Society located in New Orleans, LA.

Discography

Louis Armstrong albums

Louis Armstrong songs

Notes

References

Armstrong, Louis. ''Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans''. ISBN 0-306-80276-7

Armstrong, Louis and Thomas Brothers. ''Armstrong, in His Own Words: Selected Writings''. ISBN 0-19-514046-X

Bergreen, Laurence "Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life" ISBN 0-553-06768-0

Brothers, Thomas "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans" ISBN 0-393-06109-4

Cogswell, Michael. ''Armstrong: The Offstage Story''. ISBN 1-888054-81-6

Elie, Lolis Eric. ''A Letter from New Orleans.'' Originally printed in ''Gourmet''. Reprinted in ''Best Food Writing 2006,'' Edited by Holly Hughes, ISBN 1-56924-287-9

Jones Max and John Chilton. Louis Armstrong Story. ISBN 0-306-80324-0

Meckna, Michael. ''Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia''. ISBN 0-313-30137-9

Video clips

"Now You Has Jazz"

"Blueberry Hill"

"Stompin' At The Savoy" Germany, 1959

"Tiger Rag"

"C'est si bon 1962

"Dream a Little Dream" photo slide show

"Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra - The Birth of The Blues" - The Edsel Show

External links

louis-armstrong.net - Sony BMG Music Entertainment

Louis Armstrong by Nat Hentoff

Obituary, NY Times

Quotes and tributes

Discography

Filmography @ imdb.com

The Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band

Louis Armstrong: A Life in Music - slideshow by ''Life magazine''

''Seeing Black'' jazz critic on the Uncle Tom question

the official website of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives

"Louis Armstrong Transcription Project - john p birchall"

Louis Armstrong at pbskids.org

David Margolick, The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise

Smithsonian Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy

Louis Armstrong at NPR Music

Louis Armstrong in Athens, Blog of the Digital Library of Georgia

Louis Armstrong: discography and early recordings (Real Player format) on the Red Hot Jazz website.

Milestone Louis Armstrong recordings at Three Perfect Minutes

Louis Armstrong's autobiography online book

* "Satchmo - My Life in New Orleans(1954)" free download

*"Satchmo - My Life in New Orleans" another website

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1901 births Category:1971 deaths Category:ABC Records artists Category:African American brass musicians Category:African American singers Category:American buskers Category:American jazz cornetists Category:American jazz singers Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:Burials at Flushing Cemetery Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in New York Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Decca Records artists Category:Dixieland bandleaders Category:Dixieland singers Category:Dixieland trumpeters Category:Gennett recording artists Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jazz bandleaders Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:MGM Records artists Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:Okeh Records artists Category:People from Corona, Queens Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Swing bandleaders Category:Swing singers Category:Swing trumpeters Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Vocal jazz musicians Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Performing arts pages with videographic documentation

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Coordinates	20°34′00″N103°40′35″N
name	Kid Ory
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Edward Ory
born	December 25, 1886
died	January 23, 1973 (aged 86)
origin	LaPlace, Louisiana
instrument	Trombone, vocal
genre	JazzDixieland
associated acts	Louis Armstrong }}

Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was a jazz trombonist and bandleader. He was born in Woodland Plantation near LaPlace, Louisiana.

Biography

Ory started playing music with home-made instruments in his childhood, and by his teens was leading a well-regarded band in Southeast Louisiana. He kept LaPlace, Louisiana as his base of operations due to family obligations until his twenty-first birthday, when he moved his band to New Orleans, Louisiana. He was one of the most influential trombonists of early jazz.

Ory was a banjo player during his youth and it is said that his ability to play the banjo helped him develop "tailgate," a particular style of playing the trombone. In "tailgate" style the trombone plays a rhythmic line underneath the trumpets and cornets.

He had one of the best-known bands in New Orleans in the 1910s, hiring many of the great jazz musicians of the city, including, cornetists Joe "King" Oliver, Mutt Carey, and Louis Armstrong; and clarinetists Johnny Dodds and Jimmie Noone.

In 1919 he moved to Los Angeles—one of a number of New Orleans musicians to do so near that time—and he recorded there in 1922 with a band that included Mutt Carey, clarinetist and pianist Dink Johnson, and string bassist Ed Garland. Garland and Carey were longtime associates who would still be playing with Ory during his 1940s comeback. While in LA Ory and his band recorded two songs, "Ory's Creole Trombone" and "Society Blues." They were the first jazz recordings made on the west coast by an African-American jazz band from New Orleans. His band recorded with the recording company Nordskog and Ory paid them for the pressings and then sold them under his own label of "Kid Ory's Sunshine Orchestra" at a store in LA called Spikes Brothers Music Store. In 1925, Ory moved to Chicago, where he was very active, working and recording with Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Joe "King" Oliver, Johnny Dodds, and many others.

During the Great Depression Ory retired from music and would not play again until 1943. From 1944 to about 1961 he led one of the top New Orleans style bands of the period. In addition to Mutt Carey and Ed Garland, trumpeters Alvin Alcorn and Teddy Buckner; clarinetists Darnell Howard, Jimmie Noone, Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard, and George Probert; pianists Buster Wilson, Cedric Haywood and Don Ewell; and drummer Minor Hall were among his sidemen during this period. All but Probert, Buckner, and Ewell were originally from New Orleans.

The Ory band was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz, making popular radio broadcasts—among them a number of slots on the Orson Welles ''Almanac'' broadcast and a jazz history series sponsored by Standard Oil—as well as by making recordings.

Ory retired from music in 1966 and spent his last years in Hawaii, dying in Honolulu.

References

http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/kid-ory-tailgate-trombonist-composer Although my Father did retire in 1966 from Los Angeles to Honolulu.He continued to play special occasions & the last was in 1971 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, George Wein in asking my dad to come broke a separation from New Orleans & the public Ory that had not been since 1919. Our Family had a great reunion & fans got to see& hear Kid Ory one last time in New Orleans. Babette A Ory LA 2010

Sources

Marcus, Kenneth. ''Musical Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Creation of Music Culture 1880-1940''

External links

Kid Ory on redhotjazz.com

Category:1886 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Dixieland jazz musicians Category:Jazz musicians from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:People from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:People from St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American jazz trombonists Category:Jazz trombonists Category:Jazz bandleaders Category:Louisiana Creole people Category:Vocalion Records artists

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Coordinates	20°34′00″N103°40′35″N
name	Lawrence Welk
birth date	March 11, 1903
birth place	Strasburg, North Dakota
death date	May 17, 1992
death place	Santa Monica, California
occupation	Musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario
spouse	Fern Renner (born August 26, 1903- died February 13, 2002)
children	Shirley Welk, Donna Welk, Lawrence "Larry" Welk, Jr.
website	Welk Musical Family }}

Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1955 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music".

Early years

Welk was born in the German-speaking community of Strasburg, North Dakota. He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana Welk, ethnic Germans who emigrated to America in 1892 from Odessa, Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian Empire.

The family lived on a homestead that today is a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year under an upturned wagon covered in sod.

Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order accordion for $400 ($|r=0}}}} as of ). He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family.

A common misconception is that Welk did not learn English until he was 21. In fact, he began learning English as soon as he started school. The part of North Dakota where he lived had been settled largely by Germans from Russia; even his teachers spoke English as a second language. Welk thus acquired his trademark accent, a combination of the Russian and German accents. He took elocution lessons in the 1950s and could speak almost accent-free, but he realized his public expected to hear him say: "A-one, an-a-two" and "Wunnerful, Wunnerful!" When he was asked about his ancestry, he would always reply "Alsace-Lorraine, Germany," from where his forebears had emigrated to Russia (and which, at the time of Welk's birth in 1903, was still under German control).

Early career

On his 21st birthday, having fulfilled his promise to his father, Welk left the family farm to pursue a career in music, which he loved. During the 1920s, he performed with the Luke Witkowski, Lincoln Boulds, and George T. Kelly bands before starting his own orchestra. He led big bands in North Dakota and eastern South Dakota. These included the Hotsy Totsy Boys and later the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. His band was also the station band for popular radio station WNAX in Yankton, South Dakota. In 1927, he graduated from the MacPhail School of Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Although many associate Welk's music with a style quite separate from jazz, he did record one notable song in a ragtime style in November 1928 for Indiana-based Gennett Records. "Spiked Beer" featured Welk and his Novelty Orchestra.

During the 1930s, Welk led a traveling big band that specialized in dance tunes and "sweet" music. Initially, the band traveled around the country by car. They were too poor to rent rooms, so they usually slept and changed clothes in their cars. The term "Champagne Music" was derived from an engagement at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, when a dancer referred to his band's sound as "light and bubbly as champagne." The hotel also lays claim to the original "bubble machine," a prop left over from a 1920s movie premiere. The band performed across the country but particularly in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. In the early 1940s, the band began a 10-year stint at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, regularly drawing crowds of nearly 7,000.

His orchestra also performed frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City during the late 1940s. In 1944 and 1945, Welk led his orchestra in many motion picture "Soundies," considered to be the early pioneers of music videos. Welk collaborated with Western artist Red Foley to record a version of Spade Cooley's "Shame on You" in 1945. The record (Decca 18698) was #4 to Cooley's #5 on Billboard's September 15 "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing. From 1949 through 1951, the band had its own national radio program on ABC, sponsored by "The Champagne of Bottle Beer" Miller High Life.

''The Lawrence Welk Show''

In 1951, Welk settled in Los Angeles. The same year, he began producing ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' on KTLA in Los Angeles, where it was broadcast from the Aragon Ballroom in Venice Beach. The show became a local hit and was picked up by ABC in June 1955.

During its first year on the air, the Welk hour instituted several regular features. To make Welk's "Champagne Music" tagline visual, the production crew engineered a "bubble machine" that spouted streams of large soap bubbles across the bandstand. Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the "Champagne Lady." His first Champagne Lady was Jayne Walton Rosen (real name: Dorothy Jayne Flanagan). Jayne left Welk's show after her marriage and later pregnancy. After Welk and his band went on television, she appeared as a guest on the show, where she sang Latin American songs and favorites that were popular when she was traveling with the Welk band. Novelty numbers would usually be sung by Rocky Rockwell. Welk also reserved one number for himself to solo on his accordion.

Welk's television program had a policy of playing well known songs from previous years, so that the target audience would hear only numbers with which they were familiar. In the TV show's early days, the band would rarely play tunes from the current charts except strictly as novelty numbers. On December 8, 1956, two examples on the same broadcast were "Nuttin' for Christmas," which became a vehicle for Rocky Rockwell dressed in a child's outfit, and Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel," which was sung by violinist Bob Lido, wearing fake Presley-style sideburns.

Welk never lost his affection for the hot jazz he played in the 1920s, and when a Dixieland tune was scheduled, he enthusiastically led the band.

The type of music on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' was almost always conservative, concentrating on popular music standards, polkas, and novelty songs, delivered in a smooth, calm, good-humored easy listening style and "family-oriented" manner. Although described by one critic as "the squarest music this side of Euclid,", this strategy proved commercially successful and the show remained on the air for 31 years.

Much of the show's appeal was Welk himself. His unusual accent appealed to the audience. While Welk's English was passable, he never did grasp the English "idiom" completely and was thus famous for his "Welk-isms," such as "George, I want to see you when you have a minute, right now" and "Now for my accordion solo; Myron, will you join me?" His TV show was recorded as if it were a live performance, and it was sometimes quite free-wheeling. Another famous "Welk-ism" was his trademark count-off, "A one and a two . . . ," which was immortalized on his California automobile license plate that read "A1ANA2." This plate is visible on the front of a Model A Ford in one of the shows from 1980.

Musical satirist Stan Freberg and his frequent collaborator, arranger Billy May, recorded a scathing 1957 parody of the Welk TV show titled "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" featuring Freberg, voice actor Daws Butler and members of Jud Conlon's Rhythmairs, mocking the show's corny nature, the band's more predictable arrangements and Welk's own mediocre accordion work. Studio musicians on the session included top Hollywood jazz players, many of whom scorned Welk's music and eagerly participated in the parody. After several "performances" and frequent asides from Freberg of "turn off the bubble machine," the machine spun out of control, sending the Santa Monica Ballroom floating out to sea. Welk was not pleased with Freberg's parody (a hit single that year) and denied he ever used the phrase "Wunnerful! Wunnerful!" though it later became the title of his autobiography.

He often took women from the audience for a turn around the dance floor. During one show, Welk brought a cameraman out to dance with one of the women and took over the camera himself.

Welk's musicians were always top quality, including accordionist Myron Floren, concert violinist Dick Kesner, guitarist Buddy Merrill, and New Orleans Dixieland clarinetist Pete Fountain. Though Welk was occasionally rumored to be very tight with a dollar, he paid his regular band members top scale - a very good living for a working musician. Long tenure was very common among the regulars. For example, Floren was the band's assistant conductor throughout the show's run. He was noted for spotlighting individual members of his band and show. His band was well disciplined and had excellent arrangements in all styles. One notable showcase was his album with the noted jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges.

Welk had a number of instrumental hits, including a cover of the song "Yellow Bird." His highest charting record was "Calcutta", which achieved hit status in 1961. Welk himself was indifferent to the tune, but his musical director, George Cates, said that if Welk did not wish to record the song, he (Cates) would. Welk replied, "Well, if it's good enough for you, George, I guess it's good enough for me." Despite the emergence of rock and roll, "Calcutta" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop charts in 1961; it was recorded in only one take. The tune knocked the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" out of the #1 position, and it kept the Miracles' "Shop Around" from becoming the group's first #1 hit, holding their recording at #2. It sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The album "Calcutta" also achieved number-one status. The albums "Last Date," "Yellow Bird," "Moon River," "Young World" and "Baby Elephant Walk and Theme from the Brothers Grimm," produced in the early 60s, were in Billboard's top ten; nine more albums produced between 1956 and 1963 were in the top twenty. His albums continued to chart through 1973.

Welk's insistence on wholesome entertainment led him to be a somewhat stern taskmaster at times. For example, he fired Alice Lon, at the time the show's "Champagne Lady," because he believed she was showing too much leg. Welk told the audience that he would not tolerate such "cheesecake" performances on his show; he later tried unsuccessfully to rehire the singer after fan mail indicated overwhelmingly that viewers disagreed with her dismissal. He then had a series of short-term "Champagne Ladies" before Norma Zimmer filled that spot on a permanent basis. Highly involved with his stars' personal lives, he often arbitrated their marriage disputes.

''The Lawrence Welk Show'' embraced changes on the musical scene over the years. For as long as it existed, the show featured fresh music alongside the classics, even music originally not intended for the big-band sound. During the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, the show incorporated material by the contemporary sources The Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, The Everly Brothers and Paul Williams and so on, albeit in Welk's signature "Champagne" style. Originally produced in black and white, in 1957 the show began being recorded on videotape, and it switched to color for the fall 1965 season. In time, it featured synthesized music and, toward the end of its run, early chroma key technology added a new dimension to the story settings sometimes used for the musical numbers. Welk referred to his blue-screen effect in one episode as "the magic of television."

During its network run, ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' aired on ABC on Saturday nights at 9 p.m. (Eastern Time), moving up a half-hour to 8:30 p.m. in the fall of 1963. In fact, Welk headlined two weekly prime-time shows on ABC for three years. From 1956 to 1958, he hosted a show titled ''Top Tunes and New Talent'', which aired on Monday nights. The series moved to Wednesdays in Fall 1958 and was renamed ''The Plymouth Show'', which ended in May 1959. During that time, the Saturday show was also known as ''The Dodge Dancing Party''. ABC cancelled the show in the spring of 1971, citing an aging audience. Welk thanked ABC and the sponsors at the end of the last network show. ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' continued on as a first-run syndicated show on 250 stations across the country until the final original show was produced in 1982.

Personal life

Welk was married for 61 years, until his death, to Fern Renner, with whom he had three children. One of his sons, Lawrence Welk Jr., married fellow ''Lawrence Welk Show'' performer Tanya Falan; they later divorced. Welk had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One of them, grandson Lawrence Welk III, who usually goes by "Larry Welk," is a reporter and helicopter traffic pilot for KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. One of the great-grandchildren, Nate Fredricks, reportedly enjoys the same love for music as his great-grandfather did and plays guitar in a band.

Known as an excellent businessman, Welk had investments in real estate and music publishing. Welk was the general partner in a commercial real estate development located at 100 Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, California. The 21-story tall white tower is the tallest building in Santa Monica and is located on the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica Bay. It was informally named "The Lawrence Welk Champagne Tower."

Welk enjoyed playing golf, which he first took up in the late 1950s, and was often a regular at many celebrity pro-ams such as the Bob Hope Desert Classic.

A devout, life-long Roman Catholic, Welk was a daily communicant, which is corroborated in numerous biographies, by his autobiography and by his family and his many staff, friends and associates throughout the years The Universal Life Church claims that he was a minister of their church.

Later years

After retiring from his show and from the road in 1982, Welk continued to air reruns of his shows, which were repackaged first for syndication and, starting in 1986, for public television. He also starred in and produced a pair of Christmas specials in 1984 and 1985.

Welk died from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California in 1992 at age 89 and was buried in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.

Singles

Moritat A Theme From Three Penny Opera { US # 17 - March 1956 }

The Poor People Of Paris { US # 17 - April 1956 }

On The Street Where You Live { US # 96 - June 1956 }

Weary Blues { US # 32 - August 1956 }

In The Alps { US # 63 - August 1956 }

Tonight You Belong To Me { US # 15 - November 1956 } (Featuring Lennon Sisters)

When The White Lilacs Bloom Again { US # 70 - November 1956 }

Liechtenstein Polka { US # 48 - December 1957 }

Last Date { US # 21 - December 1960 }

Calcutta { US # 1 - February 1961 }

Theme From My Three Sons { US # 55 - April 1961 }

Yellow Bird { US # 71 - July 1961 }

Riders In The Sky { US # 87 - October 1961 }

One A-Two A-Cha Cha Cha { US # 117 - December 1961 }

Runaway { US # 56 - May 1962 }

Baby Elephant Walk { US # 48 - September 1962 - AC # 10, 1962 }

Zero-Zero { US # 98 - December 1962 }

Scarlet O'Hara { US # 89 - June 1963 }

Breakwater { US # 100 - June 1963 }

Blue Velvet { US # 103 - October 1963 }

Fiesta { US # 106 - October 1963 }

Stockholm { US # 91 - March 1964 }

Apples And Bananas { US # 75 - April 1965 - AC # 17, 1965 }

The Beat Goes On { US # 104 - April 1967 }

Green Tambourine { AC # 27 - March 1968 }

Southtown U.S.A. { AC # 37 - February 1970 }

Sources: Billboard Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 Billboard Top Adult Songs 1961-2006 Billboard Bubbling Under The Hot 100 1959-2004

Honors

In 1961, he was inducted as a charter member of the Rough Rider Award from his native North Dakota.

He served as the Grand Marshal for the Rose Bowl's Tournament of Roses parade in 1972.

In 1994, he was inducted into the International Polka Music Hall Of Fame.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6613½ Hollywood Blvd.

In 2007, he became a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana.

Legacy

Welk's band continues to appear in a dedicated theater in Branson, Missouri. In addition, the television show has been repackaged for broadcast on PBS stations, with updates from show performers appearing as wraparounds where commercial breaks were during the original shows. The repackaged shows are broadcast at roughly the same Saturday-night time slot as the original ABC shows, and special longer Welk show rebroadcasts are often shown during individual stations' fund-raising periods. These repackaged shows are produced by the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority.

A resort community developed by Welk and promoted heavily by him on the show is named for him. Formerly known as "Lawrence Welk Village," the Welk Resort and Champagne Village are just off Interstate 15 north of Escondido, California, about 38 miles north of downtown San Diego. Lawrence Welk Village was where Welk actually lived in a rather affluent "cottage." The resort is open to the public and contains two golf courses, dozens of upscale timeshares, and a theater that contains a museum of Welk's life. The Welk Resort Theatre performs live Broadway musicals year round.

His organization, The Welk Group, consists of: his resort communities in Branson and Escondido; Welk Syndication, which broadcasts the show on public television; and the Welk Music Group, which operates record labels Sugar Hill, Vanguard and Ranwood. From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the Welk Group was known as "Teleklew," in which ''tele'' stood for television and ''klew'' was Welk spelled backwards.

The "Live Lawrence Welk Show" makes annual concert tours across the United States and Canada, featuring stars from the television series, including Ralna English, Mary Lou Metzger, Jack Imel, Gail Farrell, Anacani and Big Tiny Little.

Welk's variety show has been parodied in a recurring 2000s sketch on ''Saturday Night Live'', in which he is portrayed by Fred Armisen.

See also

The Lennon Sisters - mainstay singers for Welk from 1955 to 1968

Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park)

Books

All books written with Bernice McGeehan and published by Prentice Hall (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), except where indicated:

''Wunnerful, Wunnerful: The Autobiography of Lawrence Welk'', 1971, ISBN 0-13-971515-0

''Ah-One, Ah-Two! Life with My Musical Family'', 1974, ISBN 0-13-020990-2

''My America, Your America'', 1976, ISBN 0-13-608414-1

''Lawrence Welk's Musical Family Album'', 1977, ISBN 0-13-526624-6

Welk with McGeehan, illustrated by Carol Bryan, ''Lawrence Welk's Bunny Rabbit Concert'', Indianapolis: Youth Publications/Saturday Evening Post Co., 1977, ISBN 0-89387-501-5 (children's book)

''This I Believe'', 1979, ISBN 0-13-919092-9

''You're Never Too Young'', 1981, ISBN 0-13-977181-6

References

External links

Lawrence Welk's recordings in the 1920s and 1930s, along with other info

"Spiked Beer," from the aforementioned website

Lawrence Welk's Best Kept Secret

Welk Musical Family website

WelkNotes fansite

"Old Fans Still Bubble Along to Lawrence Welk" article (''The New York Times'')

Welk Musical Family blog

Lawrence Welk Collection at North Dakota State University

Category:1903 births Category:1992 deaths Category:American accordionists Category:American bandleaders Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Musicians from North Dakota Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Emmons County, North Dakota Category:Polka musicians Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Gennett recording artists Category:Dot Records artists Category:Coral Records artists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Infectious disease deaths in California

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